Method of fabricating vacuum tubes



June 1, 1943. c. v. LlTTON METHOD OF FABRICATING VACUUM TUBES Filed May 12, 1942 INVENTOR CHARLES l/. Z/rmv ATT RNEY Patented June -1, 1943 'mn'raon or ranarca'rmo VACUUM mas Charles V. Litton, Redwood City, Calif., assignor to International Standard Electric Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application May 12, 1942, Serial No. 442,635

4 Claims.

This invention relates to vacuum tubes and more particular to an improved method of fabrieating vacuum tube structures.

Vacuum tubes are generally made of parts which must be accurately formed at the time the tube is put together in order to assure proper spacing of all the tubeelements. Particularly, in. the case of vacuum tubes having a glass envelope, distortion of the glass at the time the tube is assembled often causes displacement of parts so that the characteristics of the completed tube are not always the same as those for which it had been designed.

It is an object of my invention to provide a system and method for fabricating vacuum tube structures from previously accurately prepared glass and metal parts, so that the tube may be quickly assembled and at all times have the proper electrode spacing.

According to a feature of my invention previously prepared parts are assembled in approximately the relationship in which they are intended to be finally fixed and after heating to soften the glass, the parts are forced into position to complete sealing together of elements of the tube and properly to position the elements supported therein.

A better understanding of my invention and the objects and features thereof may be had from the particular description thereof made with ref erence to the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 illustrates an arrangement for assembling the parts of a vacuum tube cathode and grid supporting element;

Fig. 2 illustrates an assembly for providing the anode structure for the vacuum tube, and

Fig. 3 illustrates the arrangement for completing the vacuum tube assembly.

In accordance with my invention avacuum tube may be assembled from pre-formed parts. In Fig. 1 the arrangement for assembling a cathode and a grid supporting cone are shown. In this arrangement there is provided a tubular glass member III, provided with an outwardly extending flange II at one end, the function of which will be described later, and at the other end a thickened portion I2. In the edge of glass member III adjacent flange II are provided a number of notches II. The purpose of these notches I 3 will also be described later. The tubular member In is rigidlysupported concentrically with a guiding and stop member II. The supports for holding members III and I4 in rigid fixed positions are not shown and may be of any desired form. A conical grid seal member I5 is placed on the upper end of tube I II. Member I5 may be arranged to rest, preferably so that it contacts the inner edge of part I2 of tubular member I9. An inner opening of member I5 is arranged to be substantially in contact with the outer surface of member I4 and is provided at that portion with extending ring portion I6 which may be used to support the grid when used in the tube. Above membe I5 is placed a glass plate assembly II through which are sealed the cathode leads It on which is mounted the cathode I9. Cathode I9 is arranged within a central bore 20 in member It to assure proper centering of cathode I9. Member I4 is also provided with a ring portion 2 I, which has curved faces adapted upon contact of parts It of member I2, to accurately center membe I5 with respect to cathode I9.

The members of the assembly having been put in place heat is applied at member I5 sufflcient to soften the glass on the upper end of member I2, and the corresponding adjacent portion of plate II. The parts are then forced together to push more glass into contact with plate I5, which pref erably is of copper, and at the same time to produce the metal-to-glass seal between members- It, I5 and II, as can be seen more clearly in Fig. 3. As the members are pushed downwardly, and the seal is made, cathode I9 reaches the bottom of the bore 20, the initial space between the cathode and the bottom of the bore being made just suflicient to provide the proper deformation of the glass to form a good seal. At the same time member I5 is forced downwardly and comes into contact with the ring portion 2i, thus properly spacing the grid support I6 with respect to cathode I9, not only longitudinally but also centrally. I The assembled members grid support I5 and cathode I9 are thus properly spaced with respect to each other and tube II) for the complete tube assembly.

A similar arrangement to that shown for Fig. 1 is used for constructing the anode end of the tube. This arrangement is shown in Fig. 2. In accordance with this arrangement a generally tubular glass member I00. is provided, formed substantially in the same manner as member III with an extending flange Ila, and notched openings I30. The anode 22 is provided at itsupper end with an outwardly extending flange 23 which preferably has substantially the same slope as cone I5. It should be understood that this anode flange may be arranged on any other part of the anode depending on the tube design. The anode 22 is placed so that the flange is in contact with one end of ring I39. On the outer surface of flange will be properly spaced with respect to the grid cathode assembly constructed in Fig. 1.

These two parts once having been made, members l0 and Illa are placed one on the other in aligned relationship as shown in Fig. 3. When so placed anode 23 will be properly spaced with respect to the cathode is and the gridill which has been mounted on supporting cone l5.

When these two parts are put together as illustrated, the flxed ends of tubes Ill and Ilia serve properly to space all of the elements longitudinally. At the same time flanges H and Ila extend outwardly and close to one another, but not touching. The tube as thus assembled is then heated to soften flanges H and Ila. Softened flanges H and Ila are then deformed into contact with one another completing the sealing together of these parts of the tube. Notches I3 and I3a are provided so that after the parts are assembled the entire tube may be readily evacuated. The opening formed by l3 and Ba, permits the gas that otherwise would be trapped in the space formed by flanges II and Ha readily to enter into the main portions of the tube to be evacuated. If these notches are not provided the slow seepage of gas between the contiguous edges would unduly lengthen the time necessary for evacuation.

It should be distinctly understood that the method of my invention, while it has been illus-- trated to a particular type of vacuum tube, is ap plicable to tubes of any kind. The principal features of my invention reside in the prefabrication of parts of a tube so that the entire tube may be quickly, cheaply and accurately assembled to space correctly all of the electrodes of the tube It is obvious that many departures from the specific illustration given may be made without departing from the scope of my invention.

What I claim is:

1. The method of forming a partial assembly for a vacuum tube assembly using a fixed centering means provided with a stop therein and previously prepared parts comprising a tubular glass portion, a metallic portion with an extending flange'greater in diameter than said tubular members, and a second glass member of substantially the same diameter as said tubular member, comprising placing said tubular memher with one end fixed in position with respect to said centering means, placing said metal portion and said second glass portion on the end of said cylinder with at least one of said portions cooperating with its centering means, heating said metal portion and the parts of the glass portions adjacent thereto to soften the glass and forcing said portions downwardly to deform said glass and seal "said parts together until at least one of said parts encounters said stop.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said second glass portion comprises an electrode supporting plate for a vacuum tube and said metal portion comprises a grid supporting means, said stop means being arranged to simultaneously flx the longitudinal spaced relation of said electrode and said grid supporting means with respect to said tubular member, and to center said grid supporting means with respect to said electrode.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said metallic portion comprises an anode, and said stop means serves to flx the flnal longitudinal position of said anode with respect to said tubular member.

4. The method of making a vacuum tube from previously prepared parts wherein said parts comprise a substantially tubular glass portion held in flxed position, a sheet like metal portion placed on one end of said tubular portion, and a further glass portion above said sheet metal portion, which comprises applying heat to said metal portion and the parts of said glass contiguous thereto to soften said parts of said glass, deforming said softened glass by pressure tending to press said further glass portion and said metal portion toward said flxed tubular portion, and further comprising the provision of stop means to limit movement of said metal portion and said further glass portion, whereby when a seal is completed among said portions, said portions have a predetermined fixed position with respect to said tubular portion and each other.

CHARLES V. LITTON. 

